


Triple Spirits

by watery_melon_baller



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Blanket Permission, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Ghosts, Giving Sam and Tucker the attention they deserve, Halfa Sam, Halfa Trio AU, Halfa Tucker, The portal accident, The trio cares about each other and you can pry that from my cold dead hands, pov tucker foley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:33:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29767299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watery_melon_baller/pseuds/watery_melon_baller
Summary: Sam’s lips pressed into a thin line, gaze scanning the sky. The silence stretched for a moment before she finally spoke. “I’m worried about him.”“Danny knows what he’s doing”, Tucker said. “He hasn’t gotten seriously hurt in a ghost fight for-”“No, that’s not what I mean”, Sam interrupted. “You can’t tell me you haven’t seen how exhausted he’s been. I just... I wish we could support him better, you know?”orSeeing Danny is taking on too much, Sam and Tucker formulate a plan. (Halfa Trio AU)
Relationships: Danny Fenton & Tucker Foley & Sam Manson, Tucker Foley & Sam Manson
Comments: 5
Kudos: 61





	Triple Spirits

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Halfa Trio AU](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/768180) by juicyreptile. 



> This has been rattling around in my echo-chamber of a pea brain for a WHILE. There is a criminally low amount of halfa trio au content on this site and that stuff is my SHIT so I finally had to just make some of my own. And right now I've hit a wall in These Things Take Time, so what better a time to write this? But yeah anyway ever since I saw sapphireswimming's fic of the same AU (Thus They Fly) I knew I needed something similar, but ending well because I need happiness in my life. Enjoy!

It was Wednesday. A rather mediocre day of the week, in Tucker’s opinion. But he supposed, for a Wednesday, it was nice. The spring weather befitted the season, the air warm, but not cloying in light of the soft breeze that sent the pure white clouds drifting across the sky. The birds were out in full force, not at all fazed by the crowds of students sitting, standing, or generally milling about. The sun shone brightly in the sky. Tucker had always enjoyed the sun much more than Sam or Danny. Sam thrived when it was overcast or raining, while Danny was a creature of the night through and through. 

It was lunch period, and he’d, in a rare turn of events, managed to override his goth friend’s opinion and convinced their small group that they should take lunch outside in light of the weather. Tucker had gotten there second, even though his third period class was the closest of all of them to the little courtyard with lunch tables where they sat. It was several minutes more before Danny shuffled up, collapsed to the bench across from Sam and Tucker, and sagged instantly. “Hey, guys.”

“Long morning?”, Sam asked. 

Danny groaned. “Always is.”

“Who was it this time?”, Tucker asked, looking up from his PDA. 

“Well, Johnny got me up at the ripe hour of five am. I had to spend half an hour beating his ass, and then I couldn’t get back to sleep. Then on the way to school there was some sort of jello-looking thing I’ve never seen before. And then this morning I missed my biology test because of that little brat Youngblood. Not that I would have done well on it anyway, because I haven’t had any time to study, because of, you guessed it, ghosts!” Danny groaned again, dropping his head onto the table. 

“Yikes, dude”, Tucker said. 

“Rough”, Sam agreed. 

“I just…” Danny sighed. “It’s a lot. And it’s absolutely exhausting.”

Sam and Tucker exchanged a look. 

“So”, Danny continued, looking up. “How-” He was cut off by a gasp of blue mist. Danny growled, eyes flashing. “Who the fuck is it this time?” 

“We’ll cover you”, Sam said quickly, getting up. 

“No, no.” Danny held out his hands. “You guys help me enough with patrols. Eat your lunches. It’s fine, I got this.” 

Sam gave him a look of concern, but sat back down. Tucker didn’t doubt that Danny would be able to handle whatever ghostly threat was attacking this time (his friend was really good at what he did, and he sure got the practice). But that didn’t mean Tucker wasn’t concerned. It was obvious that Danny was stretched thin. 

Danny got up and ran behind a tree near the fence, the branches white with flowers at this time of year. There was a flash of white one probably wouldn’t notice if they weren’t looking for it, and then nothing. Danny had probably gone invisible and off to look for the ghost. 

Sam’s lips pressed into a thin line, gaze scanning the sky. The silence stretched for a moment before she finally spoke. “I’m worried about him.” 

“Danny knows what he’s doing”, Tucker said. “He hasn’t gotten seriously hurt in a ghost fight for-”

“No, that’s not what I mean”, Sam interrupted. “You can’t tell me you haven’t seen how exhausted he’s been. He tells us he’s handling it, but…” Sam made a noise in the back of her throat. “He’s pushing himself so hard. It’s… all these ghosts, all this responsibility, as good as he gets at fighting them, it’s too much. It’s too much for him. They just keep coming, stronger and stronger, and he’s just one person. I just- I wish we could help him. I wish we could…” Sam gesticulated wildly. “I wish we could support him better, you know?” 

Tucker bit his lip, then nodded. “Yeah. I know what you mean.” He turned to look at her. “But realistically, what can we do? We already try to help where we can with ghost weapons, but even the Fentons, even _Valerie_ really, can’t compete with what Danny does. And, hate to say it Sam, but we have nowhere _near_ their equipment or resources.”

Sam huffed. “Well, there’s got to be something!” Sam put her chin in her hands, looking down into her fancy grocery-store packaged salad. Then, her eyes brightened. She looked back up.

“What if we became halfas too?” 

Tucker gave her a look. “What? How would-” 

“Think about it”, Sam cut in. “We know it’s possible to recreate the accident. We did it that one time with Desiree.”

“Ugh, that was a _weird_ day.” 

“Shh. So if we did that same thing and went in ourselves, we’d become halfas too, right?” 

Tucker’s brow furrowed. “I mean, probably. But that’s a huge risk. What if it doesn’t react the same to us as it did to Danny?” 

Sam looked at him earnestly. “Tucker, you’ve seen just as well as I what Danny’s going through. And…” Sam paused. “...aren’t we really the reason this is all happening? The reason Danny’s…” Her voice wavered. “We were the ones who encouraged him to go into the portal in the first place. Don’t we have some obligation to do the same, to help him?” 

Guilt churned up in Tucker’s gut, because Sam… Sam was right. It _was_ their fault. They had been the ones who wanted to see the portal, even though Danny was nervous about going down there. Sam had been the one who wanted a picture of him in the tunnel, and Tucker had egged them on. If they hadn’t been there, none of this would have happened. 

Tucker let out a heavy breath. “Okay. You’re right.” 

“You’re on board, then?”, Sam asked, raising an eyebrow. Tucker nodded. “Great.” Sam hummed. “How are we going to go about this, then?”

“We definitely can’t tell Danny”, Tucker said with a snort. “That dude is far too self-sacrificing for his own good. He’d definitely try to stop us.” 

“You’ve got that right”, Sam agreed. 

“We could meet up at my place this afternoon. I’m free.” 

Sam nodded. “Sounds good to me. So-” 

At that moment, Danny came up to them, scowling. He had a thermos in hand. “Hey”, he grunted.

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Who was it this time?”

“The fucking Box Ghost”, Danny growled murderously. 

\---

Tucker sat in his room, telling himself that going to get started on his homework any time now. He was. Definitely. He was just doing a little bit of scrolling through Instagram before he got started. Totally. 

He was about to get up from the bed and migrate to his desk when the sound of the doorbell rang throughout the house. Tucker jumped up and hurried into the hall. His mom poked her head out of her bedroom. “Friend?” 

“Yep. Sam”, Tucker called back. His mom smiled and nodded, going back into her bedroom. 

Tucker made his way to the front door and unlocked it. He pulled it open to see Sam standing on the front stoop. “Hey! Took you long enough.” 

Sam stepped over the threshold and punched his arm teasingly. “Hey, school traffic. Besides, I had to go home before coming over here.” 

Tucker tilted his head questioningly. Sam rolled her eyes. “My parents, of course.”

Tucker nodded sympathetically before pointing back towards the hall with a thumb. “Should we head to my room?” 

Sam snorted. “Unless you want to plan Accident 2: Electric Boogaloo out in the open.”

“Technically, it’s Accident 3”, Tucker said wryly, shutting the door. 

“Whatever.” 

Two minutes later, Sam and Tucker had settled into his room. Tucker sat at his desk, computer open. Sam was on the faded blue beanbag chair in the corner, a black notebook covered in various band stickers resting on her knees. 

Sam twirled her pen between her fingers. “So. Ideas?” 

“I guess we just do the same thing we did that time with Desiree?”, Tucker offered. 

“Yeah, but then the portal had never been activated because of her weird alternate timeline-wish bullshit. For this to work, we have to somehow…” Sam made a confused noise. “...turn it off, I guess.” 

“Oh.” 

“Yeah.” Sam hummed, gaze clouding over in thought. 

Tucker pushed his chair away from his desk, tilting his head. “That scrapbook of yours have any clues?” 

“Oh!” Sam’s face brightened. She dug into her backpack and pulled it out. “Figured it would come in handy.” Tucker went to look over her shoulder as she flipped through the laminated pages until she got to the ones with the pictures from the day of the accident. She ran a finger down it, across the various shots of the lab and Danny in his jumpsuit. Tucker scanned for anything they might be able to use. 

One image caught Tucker’s eye. He brought a hand to his chin. “Okay, this might sound stupid”, Tucker began. “But what if we just… unplugged it?” 

Sam looked at him incredulously. “You think just… _unplugging_ the literal interdimensional rift in our friend’s basement will shut it off?” 

“I mean, why not? This is ghost shit; logic is pretty much out the window.” 

“Okay, true.” 

“That’s the plan, then?” 

“Until we come up with something better”, Sam said with a shrug. She shut the scrapbook and shoved it back into her bag. “Next matter: what are we wearing?” 

“Wearing?” Tucker, who had moved back over to sit in the desk chair, cocked his head. 

“Yeah. Whatever clothing we wear when we go in there becomes a part of our ghost forms, remember?” 

“I doubt Vlad was wearing that ugly vampire suit when he got blasted.” 

Sam broke down laughing. “True, but do you want to take that chance?” 

“Fair”, Tucker said with a snicker. 

“So, we can probably borrow some Fenton jumpsuits. Stay on theme. Plus, they’re probably safer. You want a logo?” 

Tucker smirked. “Definitely. You have no idea how long I have been waiting to be a superhero.”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “We’re doing this for Danny?”

“Yeah, but you have to admit ghost powers will be a pretty good bonus.” 

Sam tipped her head to that before reaching back for her notebook and swapping her pen for a pencil. “You gonna be keeping the beret?” 

Tucker clutched a hand to his chest dramatically. “I thought you knew me, Sam.” 

“Alright, alright”, Sam said. She looked across to him. “You might want to swap out the colors, though, unless you want it to end up green.”

“Green?”

“Color theory, dolt.” She ripped out a sheet of paper and crossed the crumpled piece into his waste bin. “The portal inverts colors, at least kind of. The rules don’t seem to apply to eyes, but for clothes they definitely do. So, red goes green.” 

Tucker hummed. “I got some shopping to do, then.” 

“If there's any other accessories you want, get those too. May as well take advantage of being able to choose what goes on our ghost forms. Also, if I’m going to be designing you a logo, I need a name.” 

Tucker grinned. “Ghost puns.” 

Sam gave a long-suffering sigh, but Tucker could see she was, smiling. “Yeah, ghost puns.” 

Tucker spun his desk chair, thinking. After a moment, the perfect idea hit him, and he grinned. “Tuckey Ghouley.” Sam snickered, bringing a hand up to cover her mouth. “Hey, it’s a good pun!”, Tucker said incredulously. “I’d like to see you do better.” 

“Well, I already have my alias picked out”, Sam said with a grin. “Sam Manes.” Tucker looked at her blankly. Sam put a hand on her hip. “You know, Roman spirits of the dead?” 

“Dude, nobody is going to get that.”

“Hey! The only other thing I could think of was Sam Mourner, and that seemed too depressing.” 

Tucker let out a mock gasp, feigning shock. “Too depressing for the great goth Sam Manson?”

Sam threw a pillow at him, which Tucker very gracefully caught with his face. He let out a muffled “oof”. He could practically feel Sam’s smirk. 

Sam stayed at Tucker’s house for another hour. They worked out some more details while Sam sketched. The plan was to go to Danny’s house while he and his family were out, to avoid questions. Sam, being the attentive friend she was, remembered that Danny had ranted to her in English class about some awards banquet on Friday for yet another one of Jazz’s academic achievements that his parents were dragging him too. They figured it would be the perfect opportunity. Doing it on Friday would have the added bonus of giving them the weekend to figure out the ghost powers (Danny had taken longer to adjust, but they figured with his help they might be able to at least get enough control to go to school in a couple of days). 

“So we’re really doing this”, Sam said as she closed her notebook. 

“Yep”, Tucker replied. He shrugged. “Hey, what’s the worst that could happen? We die?” 

The joke fell flat, a moment of heavy silence settling over the room as the real gravity of what they were doing hit them. Going through the portal accident, becoming halfas, it would _kill_ them, just a little bit. Hopefully only a little bit. If this went wrong… Tucker didn’t want to think about what would happen if this went wrong. 

“So”, Sam said, breaking the quiet with an awkward chuckle. “It’s getting late; I should probably go. My parents will flip if I miss ‘family dinner’.” She put air quotes around the last two words, rolling her eyes. “See you tomorrow.” She got up, grabbed her bag, and waved. 

“Bye”, Tucker said with a halfhearted smile. He heard the click of the door opening, then a heavier one as Sam shut it. He looked blankly back at his computer. He probably still had plenty of time before dinner to get some work done on his English paper, or play a couple rounds of Doomed, but he couldn’t bring himself to do either of those things. He ended up just shutting down his computer and moving back to the bed. 

\---

By now, Tucker was completely sure that Danny had noticed something was up. All three of them had become much better liars in the time since the accident, but it was still kind of hard to keep secrets from each other, especially plans as big as this. Still, he didn’t think Danny could tell exactly _what_ they were hiding, which good enough for Tucker. 

A little more subtle wheedling from Sam and some… not so subtle wheedling from Tucker had given them the information that the awards banquet would start at five and go till seven, which would give them plenty of time to carry out their plan. 

The following day was tense, to say the least. Sure, there were distractions, with school and home and ghosts and life generally going on without any regard for Tucker’s own personal problems. But there remained a hint of jittery anxiety, hyperactive and buzzing just beneath the surface. 

At the same time, though, there was a part of Tucker that couldn’t help but be excited. He knew that being a halfa was hard for Danny. He knew that it had drawbacks and more often than not caused Danny to lose sleep and have uncomfortably close calls. But at the same time, Tucker couldn’t deny that he was, on some level, jealous of his friend. He felt bad for feeling that way, but honestly, who wouldn’t be jealous? No matter what way you slice it, Danny had literal superpowers, and that was cool. That was something Tucker wanted. 

But more than anything, Tucker knew that he was going to do this for his friend. He knew Danny would take just as much risk, if not more, had the situation been reversed. Tucker owed it to him, and he would do it gladly. 

And then Friday came, school passing both in a blur and excruciatingly slowly. Danny continued to eye Tucker and Sam suspiciously, but gave up questioning after a first few tries. Finally, the school day ended. Tucker left quickly, not bothering to meet up with either of his friends. As soon as he got home, he texted Sam, confirming everything again, and then a third time. Normally, he wasn’t meticulous about things, or really detail-oriented in any way unless it involved tech. But here, the plan really mattered.

The next few hours crept by. Tucker did get _one_ paragraph of his English paper done. Then he blew more time scrolling through memes. Finally, Tucker couldn’t wait any longer. He could meet up with Sam a little bit early. 

Tucker grabbed his stuff, shoving it into his backpack, heading to the front door. “I’m going to a movie with Sam and Danny”, Tucker told his mom as he passed. She was working in the kitchen. 

“Missing meatloaf?”, his mother said, looking up.

Tucker smiled apologetically. “Yeah, sorry. We’ve been planning this for a bit. Bought tickets ahead of time and everything.”

“That’s alright”, his mom said. She came over and gave him a hug. “Have fun, sweetie.” 

_You have no idea,_ Tucker thought. “Will do”, he said with a mock salute. His mom smiled, and Tucker stepped outside. 

Half an hour later, Tucker arrived at the small playground and accompanying park two blocks away from Danny’s house, where he and Sam had agreed to meet up. Even though he’d come early, Sam was already there, sitting on a bench and tapping her foot slowly. Sitting next to her was a cheap-looking tote bag, stuffed full and tied shut. 

Tucker made his way over to Sam. She looked up and spotted his approach. “There you are.” 

“Hey, I made it here early!”

“You made it here on time, and as my parents say, ‘on time is just as good as late’.” 

Tucker snickered. “And we all know how wise your parents are.” 

“Absolute sages.”, Sam deadpanned. 

Tucker sucked in a breath. “So. We’re really doing this.” 

“We’re doing this,” Sam affirmed. She looked down at her phone. “They should be out of the house by now. Let’s go.” 

Tucker nodded, and the two made the walk to Fentonworks, mostly in silence. Their attempts at conversation didn’t last; Tucker’s nerves had pushed their way to the forefront. Even Sam, who was generally well-practiced in concealing her emotions, betrayed some of her anxiety. They reached the block, and Tucker was relieved to see the Fentons driveway empty. Everything was going to plan so far, at least. 

Sam bounded up the front steps, Tucker on her heels. She glanced around before lifting up the pot to the left of the door. “Aha”, she said triumphantly, grabbing the key stashed under it and holding it out between two fingers. “Bingo.” 

In hindsight, they probably should have checked beforehand to make sure the Fentons still kept their key in the same place, considering how much the plan hinged on it. Eh. It had worked out, so there was no use dwelling on it. 

Sam unlocked the door, and they slipped into the empty Fentonworks. “Lab?”, Tucker asked, pointing towards the hall that led to the door down to the basement. 

“Lab”, Sam said with a nod. They hurried in that direction as quietly as they could, not that they really had any reason to hurry or be quiet. Sam pushed open the lab door, and the pair descended down the staircase. The familiar chill of the space sent a shiver up Tucker’s spine.

Sam set her tote bag down on one of the tables and turned to size up the portal, putting her hands on her hips. Tucker faced up to it as well, looking into the swirling green void. It felt so _alien._

“So…” Tucker said. “Let’s unplug it.” 

Sam snorted. “Let’s hope it works _._ ”

Tucker shrugged, then made his way over to the cord. It was remarkably ordinary looking, especially for something made by the Fentons, just a thick black extension. “Here goes nothing.” Tucker squeezed his eyes shut and pulled, sincerely hoping he wasn’t about to get electrocuted by the full might of the Ghost Zone. _Then again, that_ is _kind of our end goal._

He heard Sam jump. Opening his eyes, he turned around to see the portal, empty. The unfathomable green had receded, leaving only the tunnel, looking just as it had before Danny had ever gone inside. 

Suddenly, Sam barked out a laugh. “This is such an absurd situation.”

Tucker let out a chuckle of his own. “I cannot believe we’re doing this”, he agreed. 

Sam composed herself and cleared her throat a little. She gestured to the small half-bath in the corner of the lab. “You go change. I’ll set everything like it was during Danny’s accident, and then you can double-check it.” Tucker nodded. There was a rack of Fenton jumpsuits in a small closet in the corner. Tucker grabbed a black and white one that seemed like it would fit and ducked into the bathroom. 

He changed quickly; he kind of wanted to just get this over with, before he had the chance to chicken out. He pulled on the jumpsuit, along with gloves and some high black boots, which fit well enough, all things considered. He put a black and white hoodie he’d purchased from Target the day before on over the suit, tying it off with a belt, and finished off by swapping out his red beret for a black one. He gave the outfit a quick once-over in the dingy mirror hanging over the sink and nodded to himself, satisfied. 

Sam turned from where she stood adjusting the portal’s settings when Tucker emerged from the bathroom. “Nice”, she said, eyeing his outfit. “Dorky, but nice.”

“Hey!” 

Sam laughed. “I’m kidding, it looks good. Here.” She tossed Tucker the scrapbook, which he clumsily caught. “Double-check the settings against the photos.” Sam didn’t wait any longer as she grabbed her tote bag and a Fenton jumpsuit and went into the bathroom. 

Tucker hummed to himself as he looked between the photos in the scrapbook and the dials on the portal’s control box, making slight adjustments where needed. He noticed that the air in the lab felt different in an almost indiscernible way, with the portal shut off. It struck him how little they really knew about ghosts, about the portal, about halfas. They really had no idea what they were doing. 

Sam soon came out of the bathroom. She’d kept her combat boots, but swapped her purple hair tie out for a white one. She’d opted for longer gloves that came up to her elbows, and it looked like she’d spray painted the jumpsuit to have a blotchy black-and-white pattern running up the arms and legs. Tucker let out a low whistle. 

“I have not worn this much white in years”, Sam groaned. 

“It’s a good look on you”, Tucker snickered. 

Sam shot him a glare. “You will never speak of this again.” 

Tucker put his hands up placatingly. “Never.” 

Sam dug into her tote bag. “Here’s your logo.” Tucker jogged up to grab the sticker she pulled out. It was a stylized G, in the same style of Danny’s Phantom logo, with the prong of the letter forming a subtle T. 

Tucker grinned and stuck it onto the front of the hoodie before striking a pose. “How do I look?” 

“Like a dork in a hoodie.”

“Brutal.”

Sam chuckled and stuck a logo of her own on her chest, this one a stylized M with a wavy bottom. “So, you ready?” 

Tucker snorted. “Not at all.” 

Sam’s expression grew serious. “You know, you could still back out if you want to. This is a huge risk, and I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t want to take it.” She bit her lip. “This is really my mistake to pay for, to fix.”

Tucker looked Sam in the eye. “I’m not backing out.” Sure, he was a bit nervous, scared even. But he couldn’t let that stop him. “We’re in this together. You and Danny are my best friends. I’m not letting you face this alone.” 

The corners of Sam’s lips turned up slightly. “In that case, shall we?” She gestured to the empty tunnel of the portal. 

Tucker took a deep breath, then nodded. He walked up to stand in front of the portal beside Sam and grasped her hand. 

“Here goes everything.” 

The pair walked into the portal, all wires and chrome. Even without the ghostly energy, the space still sent a shiver up Tucker’s spine. Sam reached out, hand shaking ever so slightly, and pushed the on switch. 

_Pain._

It raced through Tucker’s veins, every fiber of his being, excruciating. It was everywhere. He couldn’t escape it. He could vaguely hear screaming, his mingling with another’s ( _Sam?, he thought distantly)_ , along with an unearthly wailing _._ It was too hot and too cold all at once, fire on his skin and ice in his veins. He couldn’t breathe. 

It lasted for a long time, too long, like it would never end. Tucker couldn’t imagine it ending. His body was twisting, and he felt Sam’s palm slip out of his grip. God, he just wanted it to _end._

And then, all at once, everything _stopped._ In stark contrast to before, the air was still. Silent. The screams ceased. And then Tucker was stumbling, grasping for some kind of support because his wavering legs couldn’t support his weight. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision. He could make out the watery shapes of the lab. He was outside the portal, then. Where was Sam? 

Tucker fell to the floor, unable to hold himself up any while. Slowly, the pain began to dissipate, and he could think again. He looked down at his hands. They were gloved. White gloved. And they were _glowing_. 

“Tucker?”, a voice croaked. Tucker looked up and cast his gaze around, looking for the source. He found it a few feet away. 

“Sam”, he whispered. His voice was equally weak. Sam was collapsed on the ground as well, and she looked _different._ Her hair was white, and her suit had inverted. Her ponytail flickered and danced like a flame. When she turned to face him, he saw her eyes glowed a vibrant shade of red. 

“It worked”, Sam said faintly, a small smile playing across her lips. 

“Ye-” Tucker cut himself off with a yelp as he felt his hands go numb, and he fell forward onto his face. 

He heard Sam give a faint laugh, which dissolved into a fit of coughing. Tucker rolled onto his back, trying to pull his arms out of the floor. 

“So, what now?”, Sam asked. 

“I-” Tucker stopped as a sharp _click_ echoed down the stairway. He heard Sam draw a sharp breath.

“Shit”, she breathed. 

Tucker froze. The Fentons weren’t supposed to be back for another hour, at the very least. Footsteps approached, growing closer and closer as someone came down the stairs into the lab.

“What do we do?”, Tucker hissed. 

“Hide?”, Sam whispered frantically.

“How?!” Fuck, fuck, _fuck,_ he really hoped it wasn’t Mr. or Mrs. Fenton. If it was, they were as good as dead. Or… double dead now, he guessed. 

“Is someone down here?”, a voice asked. Tucker recognized it instantly. _Danny._ He exchanged a look with Sam. This was very much not how they wanted Danny to find out what they’d done. 

Danny emerged from the staircase with a thermos in his left hand, looking exhausted as ever. His eyes widened as he spotted Sam and Tucker on the floor in front of the portal, in all likelihood looking pretty pitiful. Danny shook his head rapidly, a hand coming up to cover his mouth. The thermos slipped out of his grip, clattering to the floor. “Oh, no. No, no, no!” 

He ran over to Sam and Tucker, looking between the two frantically. “No, no, no, no”, he continued repeating. “You guys can’t be dead, no, no no!” His breaths grew quicker. He crouched down between his friends, shaking hands hovering above them.

“Danny”, Sam said. She held up a hand in an attempt to calm Danny’s panic. “We’re fine.” 

Danny shook his head, tears beginning to form in the corners of his eyes. “You’re dead, you’re ghosts, you’re dead, I killed you-” Danny brought a hand up to his mouth, covering up a sob. 

“Well, that’s not very nice”, Tucker croaked. “Have some sensitivity. Us dead folks are people too.”

“We’re not _dead,_ Tucker”, Sam said, shooting him a weak glare. She turned her red gaze back to Danny’s blue one. “Danny, we’re not dead.”

“But-” 

Tucker cut him off. “Dude, we’re halfas.” 

Danny’s expression twisted to confusion. “You’re… what?” 

“Here goes nothing”, Tucker heard Sam mutter softly. There was silence for a few seconds, and then a bright flash of white hit Tucker’s eyelids. 

“Sam!” Danny’s cry was barely a syllable as he dove for her, wrapping her in a tight hug. “Oh, god, ancients, Clockwork, you’re okay, you’re okay…” His mutterings dissolved into shaky breaths. Sam patted his back awkwardly. 

“What, nothing for me?”, Tucker, who still lay on the floor, joked. He concentrated for a second, closing his eyes, and then the flash passed over him as well. There was also a feeling of weight and warmth that returned. He hadn’t even realized the difference. His muscles ached, like they had after that one time he had touched an electric fence when he was six. 

Danny pulled him into the hug as well, burying his face into Tucker’s shoulder. “ _Never_ scare me like that again”, he murmured shakily. 

“Sorry, Danny”, Sam said, sounding genuinely apologetic. “We really didn’t mean for you to find out this way.” 

“It’s…” Danny took a shuddering breath. “It’s okay.” He squeezed them tighter for a moment before letting them go and stepping back. Tucker turned around, and sure enough, the portal was active again. 

Danny had calmed down by now, wiping his eyes and shoving his hands into his pockets. “What…” He paused, looking around. “What happened here?” 

“Well…” Sam trailed off, looking to the side. “We saw how hard a time you were having with all the ghost attacks…”

“So we went into the portal and zapped ourselves”, Tucker finished. 

“You- you WHAT?”, Danny shrieked. 

“There’s two new halfas in town”, Tucker said, giving jazz hands. He promptly tripped on his own foot as it went intangible and fell on his face. Again.

Danny bit his lip, looking between his two friends. “You’re saying you went into the portal and activated it with yourselves inside, for me? That could have killed you! Why did you take that risk?” Danny’s eyes flashed green. 

“Because we love you”, Sam said simply. 

Danny’s lips parted, then closed again. “I…”

Tucker, who had gotten back to his feet, spoke up. “Maybe we could talk through this later? For now, we can just figure this out.”

“Ye- yeah. Sure”, Danny said numbly. Tucker put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. 

“Uh… guys?” The shaky voice was Sam’s, coming from behind them. Tucker spun to see her beginning to float up off the ground. “Help?”

“Oh! Yeah”, Danny said, rushing over. Tucker followed more slowly, still shaky from getting zapped with god knows how many volts of electricity and ghost energy. They each grabbed one of Sam’s legs and pulled her back to the floor. 

“This is going to be a lot to get used to, huh?”, Sam said with a chuckle. 

“You got that right”, Danny said, running a hand through his hair. 

“That’s why we got you”, Tucker said, slinging a hand across Danny’s shoulder. 

All three of them turned and left the lab, prepared to face whatever lay ahead together. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> But yeah you can't tell me that Sam and Tucker wouldn't have thought to do this after the Desiree fiasco in Memory Blank. 
> 
> And on a related note, Sam would totally be a graffiti artist.
> 
> Tucker's ghost form's eyes are yellow. There wasn't a good point to bring that up in the fic, but it's there.


End file.
